The Millennium Seed Bank is a Non-Profit

Oh boy!

The Millennium Seed Bank is indeed a non-profit, and as to how much $$$ they need to continue operating, well, sayeth Rob Yates:

"As for how much money we need, that depends on how ambitious we are to conserve plants. Our aim beyond 2010 it to collect and conserve 25% of the world's plants. It would be a remarkable achievement: to think that we can save such a wealth of plantlife for generations to come. To fund this work over a 10 year period would cost around £12m a year. This would enable us to scale up our seed conservation programme significantly, saving more plant species, restoring habitats, to include training elements and the work we do overseas to build capacity with our partner countries. We believe it would be a small price to pay to conserve something so vital as plants and would be a sound investment for the future of the planet."

So, the bigger their budget, the more plant species they can preserve.
Cool, let's help them save one for now, and then if that works, maybe we'll save another...

Got a dollar? Help Save-A-Seed.
You can write it off.

Sponsor-A-Seed Progress!

Good Morning SuperForesters!

As we wrote on Monday, the Millennium Seed Bank is in a financial crunch, and we're trying to raise the not-astronomical sum of $2,995.00 to sponsor the survival of a single seed.

Well, the following SuperForesters have stepped up and put their $$$ where their <3's are. A massive SuperForest "Thank you!" to SuperForesters:

Sakae
Tina
Spencer
Erika
Emily
George
Barbara
April
Niki
Michelle
&
Spoon!

Y'all are an inspiration and your generosity is matched only by your attractiveness.

So, in one day, guess how much we've raised?...

$340.00!

We've raised nearly an eighth of our target!
Nice! We can totally do this.

Would you like to help Save a Seed?
Donate Here:

If you SuperForesters at home know of any other bloggers or writers who you think would be sympathetic to the plight of the Millennium Seed Bank or like the idea of sponsoring a single seed, please write to them, us, or both: superforestnyc(at)gmail(dot)com.

I'm really excited about this.

Love to All and thank you.

-Jackson

p.s. We have emailed the Seed Bank to inquire as to their non-profit status and will have an update as soon as they reply. Love.

The Millenium Seed Bank is in Trouble. What Can We Do to Help?

(via flickr user andyp uk.)

Dear SuperForest,

I read yesterday that the Millennium Seed Bank is in dire financial straights.

What is the Millennium Seed Bank?

From Wikipedia:

"The Millennium Seed Bank Project is an international conservation project coordinated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Launched in the year 2000... its purpose is to provide an "insurance policy" against the extinction of plants in the wild by storing seeds for future use. The storage facilities consist of large underground frozen vaults preserving the world's largest collection of seeds.

In April 2007 it banked its billionth seed, the Oxytenanthera abyssinica, a type of African bamboo."

"But the cooling of the global economy is threatening to freeze the whole project. All it takes is 2,000 pounds to save one seed, and with at least four species of plants vanishing every year, conservationists believe this is an excellent value."

-via russiatoday.com.

I wholeheartedly agree.

Okay, one seed's continued survival cost £2000 pounds.
£2000 English pounds is currently valued at $2995.8 US dollars.

I propose to you, dear friends and readers, that we raise this sum, via a paypal donation bin, and that as a group we host the continued existence of one seed. The SuperForest seed!

We may not be able to support the entire project, but we can certainly support one seed.

Donate Here:

Hosting this as yet nameless seed can be our gift to the future. It can also show how beautifully technology can work to support and buttress worthwhile thoughts and movements from the forces of economic downturns and the like.

The Millenium Seed Bank needs us just as much as we need it.

Can we do it?

One seed for SuperForest! And SuperForest for one seed!

Let's do this thing.

Massive love to all!

-Jackson


P.S. Would you like to visit the Seed Bank? Click here for info on how.

Millennium Seed Bank site.
Millennium Seed Bank wiki.


UPDATE

To let you keep track of your own fabulous donations we created this counter.

AmeriKiva, (or New YorKiva)

I was just wondering: Is there a Kiva-type organization for helping Americans in need?

If you aren't familiar, Kiva is a company that deals out microloans to people around the world who need start up funds for small businesses.

I totally understand that the relative strength of the dollar vs. local currency, coupled with a far lower cost of living means that our money makes a larger difference in the lives of those not residing in the U.S. but that doesn't mean I care any less.

I would love to be able to contribute to AmeriKiva, or New YorKiva. To help the people that I see everyday that are in need would make me feel really good. I can think of four folks right off the top of my head that could definitely use a microloan. Heck, make it a macroloan.

The will is there to help those less fortunate, is there an effective and modern way?

If not, well, I suppose we'll have to investigate the feasibility of starting one.

In the meantime, here is the Kiva site.

Love,

Jackson

SuperForester Annette Presents: Good Search

Oooooooh!

The amazing miss SuperForester Annette just sent us word of Good Search.

Good Search is a search engine where you enter in your favorite charity, then search for whatever you need, and... Good Search gives money to the charity you chose!

How simple is that?

I just googled "nutmeg" for Kiva. It took three seconds.

How "now" is the sentence: "I just googled nutmeg for kiva."

That should be our slogan, yo!

SuperForest: We just googled nutmeg for kiva.

Check out Good Search. They've combined curiosity and philanthropy into one friendly app.

Search good with Good Search!

Here's the Good Search wiki.

Thank you, Annette!

See something that makes you happy? Send it in to SuperForestnyc(at)gmail(dot)com.

Brian Neltner and His Ultraluminous LEDs

Brian Neltner, you've got the goods.

Who is Brian Neltner?

Well, according to his site:
"Brian Neltner is a third year graduate student in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT. His research involves using viruses to biotemplate catalysts suitable for converting ethanol into hydrogen gas and carbon dioxide." Sweet.

He's a blackbelt in Karate, electronic music composer, teaches at MIT on the side. A good guy.

He did something the other day that SuperForest is really down with, namely, he shared.

According to Gibbs-Duhem on Slashdot: "He's designed custom LED light fixtures which are seven times brighter than the closest similar commercial models, and include colors which can't be reproduced by a normal RGB cluster."

So Brian designed a very bright, super energy efficient light, that looked better than anything commercially available, could reproduce colors much more faithfully, and was essentially seven times better than every other LED lamp, and what did he do?...

He put the whole thing online.

Schematics, plans, parts list. He put everything up for anyone who wanted it. Free of charge. All here on his site: Ultraluminous LEDs

A generous gift, selflessly made.

Bravo, Sir!

As we said before, Brian Neltner, you've got the goods.

You get the SuperForest Good Person award!

Inspiration: Todd Barber & Reef Ball Foundation

Here's a story that is very close to my heart.

In the late 80's, while Todd Barber was scuba diving with his father, the two men came across a coral reef that they'd been visiting for a long time. Unfortunately, (or fortunately) the reef had been completely destroyed.

I say fortunately because the shock of this vanished reef inspired Todd to a great work, namely, the creation of the Reef Ball Foundation.

What is a Reef Ball?:

Take a special blend of cement, made to last over 500 years, cast it into the desired shape, and set it on the ocean floor where it serves as a growth platform for reef-building organisms, as well as a wave break to prevent beach erosion. That's a Reef Ball. Still confused? Here's the: Reef Ball wiki.



Todd and the swell kittens over at Reef Ball have since then installed 500,000 Reef Balls worldwide, in more than 59 countries.

Minty.

What an incredible example of the collision of goodwill, technology, and hard work.

Todd Barber, you've made our Tuesday and inspired us to work harder and better.

Look at the great pics up over at ReefBall.org

CNN has a great video piece up: Todd Barber & Reef Ball Foundation @ CNN

And looky here: If you die and would like your ashes cast into a Reef Ball and placed on the ocean floor, check out these guys: Eternal Reefs

Great stuff.

Good Looking out, Todd Barber and Co.

Brad's Rad!

Brad Pitt has made quite a leap from Actor/Famous Husband to philanthropist/activist/organizer.

Now, I'm a straight man, but he makes my knees go a bit wobbly.

That's because he's using his considerable charm and connections not to pursue supermodels and get movie roles, but to seriously help in the rebuilding of New Orleans, and that really inspires and delights me.

Seriously, type "Brad Pitt NOLA" into Google and see how many hits you get. (Oh heck, I'll tell you: 49,600.)

From cnn.com:
"NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Expanding on a promise he made nearly two months ago, actor Brad Pitt said Monday he expects to have families in 150 newly created homes in New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward by the end of next summer -- but he asked for help to make the dream a reality.

"To build those 150 homes, we need the help of the American people," he said in a news conference Monday. "We need to all join together to do this. There is no reason why we can't do a thousand homes."

Pitt announced in September that he was partnering with film producer Steve Bing to build "affordable and sustainable homes" in the Lower 9th Ward, an area of the city that Hurricane Katrina devastated in 2005. Pitt and Bing have also each pledged $5 million to the rebuilding project.

The 150 eco-friendly homes mark the first initiative of Pitt's "Make it Right" project, aimed at redeveloping the Lower 9th Ward."

We are entering into a wonderful new age. An age where the differences between us vanish and we see the world as it really is.

Working to help and improve the lives of your fellow humans is the greatest and noblest of all pursuits, and right now Mr. Pitt is embodifying that new spirit.

If you are able, why not donate to his "Make It Right" campaign?

Go Brad!!!!

Kiva.org News!

Hello All,

For those of you who haven't heard of it, Kiva.org is a website that manages micro-loans to people around the world who are in need.

Say "Bahtiet Hudoinazarov" wants to expand his cattle rearing business in Tajikistan. He applies to Kiva, and they set up an account for him.

I, the user, can then donate money to help him expand his business. When he is able to, he repays the loan, which returns the initial loan to you to re-loan to another needy person. Marvelous.

For Christmas we got gift certificates for Kiva, but lo and behold...

When we signed on to donate, this message came up:



Apparently, EVERY SINGLE BUSINESS ON KIVA HAS BEEN FUNDED. Every single one.
Now they are looking for more people to help.

AMAZING!!!!

I'm paraphrasing here: "People are generally good, and therefore goodness will eventually prevail..."

What a great way to start the new year.

Love to all,

Jackson

FreeRice.com

I pity the fool try to beat this score...

Imagine a site where you could play a vocabulary game, and every time you got a word right, the site donated 20 grains of rice to people in need. Imagine if you could play as long as you wanted...

Freerice.com









Mini SFNYC assignment!!!

Post your highest score in the comments!

Yay!!!! Fun.

-J

Supermen. Superwomen.

Humanity seems to be waiting for a Superman.

A shining God/King to alight on Earth from the heavens and solve our collective problems. Save the Rainforests, save the Polar Bears, save the Imperiled, the Downtrodden, the Hopeless.

Who can defeat Genocide? Who can stop Terror?

Superman could.

But Superman ain't real.

The good news: SuperMEN is real. SuperWOMEN is real. (I will just use the masculine form from here on so as not to be tedious.)
There is no one single entity that will be able to address the myriad of issues we face. No flawless Immortal to put fear and suffering back in its box.

No, there is not one. There are hundreds of thousands.

I speak of the private citizen, working together with other private citizens to bring about equity and balance.

I'm talking about the spirit of ALTRUISM.

Altruism: Noun. "The belief in or practice of disinterested or selfless concern for the well-being of others."

Everywhere you look, there is a Bono, or a Bill and Melinda Gates, or a Bill Clinton, or a Desmond Tutu, or any of the many others who believe in altruism and are hard at work to make sure that others enjoy the same freedoms that they enjoy. Breath clean air like they breath. Be free to criticize their countries leaders, like they are free to do.

What to call this emerging conciousness? The New Way? Neo-Optimism? Pragmatism Plus?

Whatever you call it, it is hard at work, and it is winning adherents.

The new way is not to fight. The new way is to relentlessly support.

We are the Superman. We together are the great shining God.

Together we can move mountains and conquer death. Alone we can only continue to struggle.

Love to all,

Jackson

The SuperForest Humanifesto

What is going to save the human race?

Please.
Thank you.

Three words that will totally change this planet.
More than solar power. More than recycling. More than wind energy.

Why?

Because if we all started treating the people and things that we interact with every day with respect and compassion, the effects would ripple through every aspect of our lives, transforming society.

Our parents taught us the manners “rule-sets” that we use every day, and as a result, we feel that we have (through years of introspection) begun walking the path towards enlightenment. Our manners dictate the way we treat the external world, the Environment. We feel that it is primarily our manners that dictate our success as humans.

Folks talk about wanting to save the “Environment”, and that conjures up images of bubbling brooks and unspoiled forests. But “the Environment” isn’t just greenery and pretty scenery. It’s our slums, our airports, our houses, our supermarkets.
The Environment is everything that disappears when you close your eyes.

If you want to improve it, you must begin with what you see and encounter every single day of your life.

Before we can set about elevating our present society from a carbon-based one to a solar-electric one, knowing full well that solar-electric decentralized power means a higher quality of life for all, we must first pause and ask ourselves: Why? What is worth saving?

Human Consciousness.

Our gift and curse as humans is our incredible consciousness. We are aware, and that is the greatest and worst thing we’ve got going for us. Because we can clearly see how well we could be living, how politely we could be treating one another, how incredible life could be; we feel it is our duty to delight and inform our fellow humans in the hopes of a better world.

There is no reason every human on Earth could not have access to:
Clean Water
Nutruitious Un-modified Food
Shelter
Education
Open Source Communication
Freedom from Oppression and Fascism

But, as is painfully obvious, most humans don’t have those things.
Most humans don’t have two of the six!

They could, but they don’t.

Why?

Bad Manners.

Nearly every religion this planet has yet produced has as one of its tenets the idea that to be happy, you must treat others as you yourself would hope to be treated.
A failure in this respect is simply bad form.

When a company decides to dump its waste into a river that others downstream use for drinking water, that is bad manners.

When a society chooses to isolate its citizenry in prisons and not offer any chance at rehabilitation, that is bad manners.

When a person decides to walk into a school and open fire on their classmates, that is extremely bad manners.

That is why we MUST START NOW.

All new generations must be schooled in the art of good manners if we are to survive, let alone flourish, as a species.

Try your hardest to treat others as you hope they would treat you, and actively look for ways to help the people around you. Do this from a pure place within you and watch the effects ripple outward!

Why?

Because so few are doing it.

Good manners make you stand out like a struck match in a dark room.

Three Essentials:

Make eye contact with anyone you interact with. Smiling is optional but highly encouraged.
Use the words “Please” and “Thank You” as often as you can.
Seek out ways to improve the lives of others. This can be as small as carrying someones bag up a flight of stairs, or holding a door open.

Do these three things and your life will change immeasurably. And you will begin to change the lives of those who come into contact with you in a measurable and positive way.

We are filled with optimism and hope.

Thank you for reading this.


Team SuperForest

Jackson, Niki, Andrew, Alex, Taylor, Jaell, Julius, April, Jordan, Spoon, Carla, & Iman